I am going to be a senior this year and I am really scared about the FASFA process. I am really the only person in my family that is attempting to go to a University(sister is attending community college part time?). My current situation is that my mother and I live with her boyfriend. I don t think they are married legally(sad how I don t even know for sure), but i am pretty sure they are not. He has an income of over $70,000 or around there. My mother does not work, she has been out of work for about 3 years since my baby brother was born. Would his income alter the financial aid I would receive? He is not going to pay for my college education, and he is not legally married to my mother. Am I screwed here? Or is there some way I can work around this. I don t have money to afford college and neither does my mom. I don t want to be a disappointment if I can t end up going to college anymore. It would ruin me. And I don t want to take out all loans. Not 100% loans at least.
Please move this to financial aid. I tried to flag this post, but the flag function didn’t work.
First you absolutely need to know if they are married or not because that will affect how you file FAFSA and will affect your aid. If they are not married, then it will not affect your aid. Doesn’t your sister already know about this from her own FAFSA filing?
If they are not married, then you file using your mother’s income and assets only. Does she receive child support? Are you on benefits like Free lunch, SNAP? If your mother fills out everything with Zero income, then you will need some paperwork to show what you live on. If you are eligible for free lunch, get on that program now because it will make it easier when you fill out your fafsa.
Now just so you know. Federal benefits you may get are Pell Grant up to 5770 and a student loan for 5500. Some states give aid too. Anything else may need to come from the school itself. How are your grades and test scores?
If they are not married, then his income doesn’t count.
@thumper1, I moved this to the appropriate forum. Can you detail a bit on the flag issue? I’ve tried to replicate it, but it works fine for me …